How to Fix a Broken Heart
by NiQuestRunner
Summary: After an argument with Lori takes a dark unexpected turn, Lucy finds herself waking up in the hospital. Learning about the condition that put her there pales in comparison to the news she receives shortly after. She begins questions everything in her life and her place in the Loud house.
1. Chapter 1

_Preface: I am not proposing any theory about these characters or believe what I am writing in here is canon. This was just a fun writing idea._

 **Chapter 1: A Life in Retrospect**

Lucy sat on her coffin, her finger making circles in the fake blood she was making. This simple act was enough to make her forget the world around her. The noise from her siblings just outside the door was of no concern of hers. All she was focused on in this moment was the red liquid swishing around in the tupperware container in her lap. She lifted up her finger, watching the fake blood drip from it intently. She sighed and cleaned her finger off before hopping to the floor.

"Not viscous enough, needs more molasses." She said to no one in particular. She carried the tupperware container gingerly out of her room. Before making it more than two steps out of her room she is bumped into hard by Lori who was distracted by her phone. Lucy watched in horror as a good portion of the blood spilled out on the floor and onto Lori.

"You didn't literally just do that!" Yelled Lori as she looked at her legs and shoes now covered in blood.

"You were the one who bumped into me," Said Lucy in a angry monotone. Her mind was trying to think of a way to save as much of the blood as possible but coming up empty handed.

"You should have been watching where you were going! I have a date with Bobbie in 5 minutes and I can't show up looking like this!"

"You bumped into me." Lucy's voice becoming almost a growl. Her mom only allowed her to make one container of blood a week and now half of it was on the floor and soaking into the carpet, all of it going to waste.

"What kind of literal weirdo carries around fake blood anyway? We get it, your a goth! Stop being such a try hard!"

"YOU BUMPED INTO ME!" Lucy voice rang out so loud that it shook the house. Lori backed away for a moment, unsettled by this change in Lucy. Lucy's breathing had all of a sudden became fast and rugged like she had been running though she was too angry to notice.

"Kids? What is going on up there?" Lucy heard the voice of their mother from downstairs and the footsteps of her approach. It is in that moment that Lucy felt as if the world just gave out from under her. Her vision went black and she felt her legs give out from under her. She could feel as she hit the ground but instead of the pain she expected it was just a sort of dull pressure impacting her face.

"Lucy?… Lucy!?" Lori's voice sounded washed out and echoed softly as Lucy dipped deeper into the darkness that she felt seeping into her. "Mom! Something is wrong with Lucy!"

The sound of footsteps transitioning into a run and the feeling of being cradled in someone's arms was the last things she experienced before the last bits of her consciousness were snuffed out.

She awoke in a room that wasn't her own. Her eyes had a hard time adjusting to the bright whiteness of it that amplified the moon light coming in from the window. Her nose itched weirdly, she went to scratch it but before she reached her nose she noticed the tubes attached to her arm. She looked around, her eyes now adjusted to the light and finally realizing that she was in a hospital room. She reached up and touched her nose to find tubes in her nostrils. She looked down to see electrodes on her chest that fed into monitors. She watched as the numbers on the monitors got higher and higher as her panic sets in.

Immediately the door to her room opened up and her parents hurried inside. Her mom with tears in her eyes wrapped her arms around Lucy, holding her tight. "It is okay, you are okay." Her mom said this over and over again, almost like she was trying to convince herself of this as much as she was trying to convince Lucy. Her father stood there trying to hide the worry on his face with a smile while occasionally glancing at the monitors.

Once Lucy had calmed down a little her mom finally let go and took a seat next to her bed. Her father stood on the opposite side. No one said anything, all of them just looking at each other. All three had so much to say but didn't know where to start.

"You gave us quite the fright there, Lucy." Said her father, finally breaking the silence.

"That is not your fault. We are not blaming you," Interjected her mom.

"Yes, of course. We just thought we lost you. Your mom found you unconscious in a pool of blood and feared the worse. I know a chill went up my spine when your mom called me at work to tell me what happened."

"What happened to me? Why am I here?" Lucy said. She was still confused about what happened. She looked at the window and the dark night outside. The last she could remember it was midday, how long has she been out?

"You had… well you have a heart condition and your fight with Lori was enough to trigger an episode. You are just here for observation. The doctors say that if everything checks out fine than we can take you home tomorrow." Her father looked away as he said this.

"I have a heart condition? Why haven't you told me about it?" Lucy's mind was spinning now. Instead of getting more answers she was only getting more questions. She started feeling like today was spiraling out of control.

"Well, sweetie, the reason why we haven't told you is because you got it from your mother," Said her mom, her voice starting to break at the end as if her whole body was against her saying it.

"Aren't you my mom?" Tears started to fall down Lucy's cheeks. She was smart enough to already knew the answer but she prayed she was wrong about it. She must be wrong, it can't be true. She felt as her world began to unravel around her.

"Yes, of course I am but… I'm not the one who gave birth to you." With that, the last strands of reality that Lucy had known came undone. The fundamental nature of her being was a lie. Who was she? Was she just some random kid picked up off the street? Why wasn't she told any of this before?

"Your birth mother was my sister, Evelyn. She found out that she had the same heart condition you have, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, after getting pregnant with you. It was too dangerous to get the surgery she while she was pregnant and she did not want to end the pregnancy early. It is because of that she died giving birth to you."

"So you are not my real parents?" Cried Lucy. These people in the room with her were not her parents, they never were her parents. They were just lying to her for the last 8 years. They were just her Aunt Rita and Uncle Lynn Sr. and nothing more than that.

"Honey, please don't say that," Said Rita. Her face filled with deep despair as Lucy looked away from her. She reached out to Lucy, trying to take Lucy's hand into hers but Lucy batted it away.

"Lucy, I want you to know that we love you just as much as the rest of your siblings. It doesn't matter that you are adopted to us, you are our daughter. You are a Loud no matter what anyone says," Said Lynn Sr. as he kneeled down to get on her eye level but Lucy looked away. Rita and Lynn Sr. looked at each other, finding a sense of hopelessness in each other's faces.

"We… we were planning on tell you eventually. With everything going on and how difficult this kind of conversation is, we just kept finding reasons to put it off. We didn't do this to hurt you, we love you." Rita was trying and failing to force back tears as she spoke.

"Who else knew about this?" Lucy was trying her best to focus on the ceiling, she couldn't handle looking at their faces.

"Your aunts and uncles, Pop-Pop, Lori, and Leni, though Leni forgot it shortly after we told her. Luna, Luan, Lynn, and Lincoln all didn't have a clue. When it was apparent that Evelyn wasn't going to make it past the pregnancy, we panicked. Your mom put on a fake pregnancy belly and acted the part. It only lasted a month before you were born but, other than Lori and Leni, the kids were too young to realize that was odd," Said Lynn Sr. sounding defeated but also like a great weight had been lifted from him.

Lori knew. Everything makes sense now. Her teasing, her bullying, her attempts to change her all makes sense. Lori was trying to tell her the whole time. She didn't belong there, she was an aberration, she was a weirdo. This realization burned inside Lucy. She finally understood but that gave her no peace, only more pain.

"Is my name even Lucy?" To her, anything was now up for questioning. So much of her life up to this point had been a lie, why not this too?

"Yes, yes of course. Evelyn named you after her favorite Saint. I know that might be hard to believe given that your name fits in with your sisters but I swear to you it is true." Rita was fully sobbing at this point. "Please sweetie, please just look at me."

"Leave me. You can come a pick me up tomorrow," Said Lucy as coldly as she could.

Rita's sobs only got louder and Lynn Sr. started to tear up as well. While fighting against sobbing breaths he walked over to Rita, putting his arm around her and directing her out of the room. As they were about to cross the threshold of the room he turned back for a moment. "I know that we have never been perfect parents to you but everything we have done is because we love you Lucy. Even if you hate us for this, which I can understand it if you do, just know that we love you." With that he closed the door behind them leaving Lucy alone with her thoughts.

The emotions that she was barely keeping in check just moments ago exploded out of her. She punched and kicked the bed as hard as she could. She pressed her face hard against her pillow to cover her wails. She would of wished for death but she didn't even know if she had ever been alive in the first place. She cried till it hurt, her body drained from her outbursts finally giving her escape to her dreams though this time they were anything but an escape.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: WAKE UP**

It seemed like any other school day. She awoke from her coffin bed and let out a loud yawn. She kissed Edwin and made her way to the bathroom. Her siblings were moving from place to place, arguing with each other and calling downstairs to their parents. None of them paid any attention to her but that was normal. She made it to the bathroom, closing the door behind her before grabbing her toothbrush and the toothpaste. Before she was able to take the cap off the toothpaste something in the mirror caught her eye. She looked up and where her reflection should have been there looking back at her was a dark figure that resembled a person. It undulated and pulsed arrhythmical in the mirror. It was seemingly made of thick black tar with dark purple swirls impeded into it. Its tar flesh dripped from it to the floor and Lucy could make out the growing puddle at its feet. She couldn't shake the feeling that it sort of resembled her in a way, like a cruel caricature that made her look less than human.

She placed her toothbrush and paste on the sink and it mirrored her movements like her own reflection would of done. She moved her hand back and forth and it copied along with her seamlessly. She pulled herself up on the sink to get a closer look and the figure did the same. She tilted her head and figure tilted its head. She tilted her head to the other side but the figure stayed in the previous position.

Lucy started to back away from the mirror. Its head snapped back into an upright position and one long hand reached out for Lucy. It warped and distorted in the mirror for a moment and then it gone through it. It held onto the edge of the mirror, its flesh now dripping onto the sink below. It reached another hand through grasping the other side of the mirror. It then pulled itself through, pouring its figure through the small mirror before reforming into its human-like shape as it perched on the sink.

Lucy turned and ran for the door but just as she was about to grab the door handle she felt and it grasp her leg. Her leg felt like it was encased in ice as she felt its pulsating grasp. She fell forward, her head hitting the floor hard. Fireworks filled her vision for a moment as the pain sent her into a panic. She started to try to claw the her way to the door but the hold on her leg was too tight to move even an inch. She couldn't help herself as she turned to look at it. The once humanoid figure was now a mesh of endless arms poking out of its body at random points, its neck was growing longer moving its face closer and closer to Lucy. As the face got closer she could feel the unbearable coldness of its body starting to dull her ability to move. She movements were slow and lacked the strength she desperately needed. She went to punch it in the face but it pinned her arm down before she could make contact.

It took one of its many hands moving it closer to Lucy's face. It did not move with the speed it had shown earlier, it didn't need to move quickly anymore. It could take its time. Its freezing hand brushed her face before it dug its fingers deep into her eye sockets. She wanted to scream but all she could manage was a raspy exhale of air. The pain was like nothing she had ever experienced. She felt everything as an explosion of pain erupted with every nerve that was ripped apart. She wanted to die but it seemed this figure would not be so kind.

With a violent final jerk the dark figure pulled the last sinews of flesh that held her eyes in place. Her vision went blindingly white with pain but as it started to fade she realized she could still see from her now detached eyes. She watched it rolled her eyes in its hand before it put her eyes into its head. It was then that she saw herself laying on the floor, she was nothing more than a quivering mass underneath its form. Her face covered in blood that was pouring out of the black holes where her eyes once where.

There was a knock on the bathroom door. She felt a tinge of hope. Someone was here, she could be saved. She tried to call out again but just a wisp of an exhale made it past her lips. She watched as the figure grabbed her by her neck and threw her into the bathtub, pulling the curtains to hide her from view. Her body was so cold and numb from being underneath it that the pain barely registered for her. She watched as one of its dripping black hands reached out to the doorknob and opened the door. There stood an impatient Lori at the door, her phone in hand. Lucy, seeing through her eyes that were no longer hers expected Lori to scream or to attack the figure but she did neither.

"Lucy, how long are you going to be in there? The rest of us have to get ready for school too," Said Lori aggitatedly.

"I just finished. It is yours," Said the monster in a perfect mimic of Lucy's voice. The figure walked past Lori and down the hall. Passing all her siblings with none of them noticing anything wrong with it even as its tar flesh covered the carpet as it passed.

'Couldn't they see that it was a fake? That is wasn't her?' She thinks.

It is then that she awoke in her hospital room in a cold sweat. She quickly moves her hands to her eyes, feeling that they were still there. She took a moment to calm herself as she watched the first beams of the rising sun peer through the window to her hospital room. She decided that she would stay awake and not fall back to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 Returning to the Cave**

She silently stood for the various tests that the doctor put her through before discharging her. Just nodding or shaking her head in response to the questions. Rita and Lynn Sr. stood in the corner of the room watching attentively as this went on and noticeably getting anxious when the doctor would pause at the end of a test before announcing that Lucy passed it. The doctor eventually lead her aunt and uncle out of the room, leaving her alone. She could hear them talking in muffled tones but she didn't bother to try to make out what was being said. She could already imagine that it was just buyer's remorse.

They eventually reentered the room, all smiling but the doctor was only one with a genuine smile. She was told that she could go, the doctor clearly expecting a big response to this news but all Lucy did was nod. The doctor's smile faltered while said goodbyes and left her with these two people who she thought she knew but were in fact just strangers. They gathered her things and lead her through the hospital.

As they passed the nursery, Lucy stopped and watched as families pressed their faces up against the window looking at the new members of their family. She moved silently over to the window, not drawing the attention of her aunt and uncle. She peered into the nursery. From the chatter of the families she could clearly figure out which babies were theirs but there was another baby in the corner that no one was talking about. Alone and forgotten, only a day old and already discarded.

"Lucy?" She heard Rita say down the hall.

She hurried back to them, not saying a word and followed them to Vanzilla. She got into the seat and buckled herself in before Rita had a chance to do it for her. Rita paused for a moment, clearly wanting to to sit in the back with Lucy but then moved into the front passenger seat. They drove for a moment before Lynn Sr. broke the uneasy quiet.

"We haven't told them. That is... we haven't told them that you're adopted. They know that you were taken to the hospital and it was because of your heart but that is it."

"We have taken this matter out of your hands for too long. If you want to tell them you can, if you don't then neither than will we." Said Rita, looking back at Lucy.

"So it is my job to keep your lie for you now?" Said Lucy, the first words she had spoken all day.

"That... that is not what we meant." Lynn Sr. paused for a moment while he tried to find the right words. "We understand that you will need time to adjust to this knowledge and the added stress of telling your siblings might be too much for you right now. We just want you to know that we are here for you when you need us. Your siblings, us, Pop-Pop, all of us."

'Not Lori.' was what Lucy wanted to say but instead she said "Okay." That seemingly ended the conversation as for the rest of the trip was in silence. Only the sound of the tires on the road and Vanzilla's engine rumbling and shaking was heard and Lucy preferred this. It reminded her better times, back when she knew who she was.

As they pulled into the driveway, her cousins rushed out of the house to the front yard followed behind by Pop-Pop with Lily cradled in his arm. All of her cousins started talking to Lucy all at once as she got out of Vanzilla. Their words bleed together into an indistinguishable din till Pop-Pop whistled loudly, quieting them. He moved to the front of the group and with his free hand messed up Lucy's hair playfully.

"Good to have you back, kiddo. I bet you are happy to be out of that place. I was in the hospital when I took shrapnel during my Navy days and it was no fun."

Lucy looked up into his beaming jovial face. She could feel as her insides started to tear apart. He knew this whole time but he was also still her Pop-Pop. Her parents were really her aunt and uncle, her siblings were really her cousins, but he was still her grandfather. It was the only good news she had since waking up in the hospital.

"I am happy to be back." She said softly. She was hoping against hope that was true but like so many things it was just another lie.

"Well let's get you home then!" Pop-Pop placed his hand on her shoulder and led her inside. As they passed her cousins she saw the worried and fearful expressions on their faces. They looked at her like she was from another planet. Like she didn't belong, like they knew. She angrily looked up at Lori who backed away and absentmindedly started fiddling with her phone.

She took a seat on the living room couch and Pop-Pop took the sofa chair. Lily yawned as he rocked her back and forth. Her cousins, aunt, and uncle came in shortly after. Leni immediately walked up to Lucy, concern on her face.

"I'm glad you are back but are you doing okay, Lucy?"

"Leni! What did we say?" Said Lori. Leni turned to face her, visibly upset.

"I know we are suppose to act like nothing happened but I can't. Lucy got hurt and I want to make sure she is okay." Leni returned her focus to Lucy. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay," Said Lucy as convincingly as she could. She could tell that she didn't completely win over Leni but did enough so that Leni started smiling again. It seemed to her that her lie was working a lot more on her other cousins who started to relax a little.

"If you want we can go shopping together some time. I am sure we can find something cute for you in the spooky store you go to." Lucy nodded at this.

The rest of her cousins came forward telling her various thing that had happened since she was gone. How Lisa made a solvent to dissolve the fake blood that accidentally ate threw the floor, Lana saying that she took care of Fang, Lola saying she polished Edwin, the comics Lincoln had read, the game that Lynn played last night, Luan trying a few new jokes on her, and Luna telling her how crazy the mosh pit at the concert was.

The only one who didn't come forward was Lori, not that Lucy minded. Lori had already spoken too much. While her cousins tried to act like they didn't know the truth, she could feel it in the way they spoke to her. It was like they were reading from prepared statements, which she wouldn't put it past them from doing so as they had to keep their stories straight. Though just as Leni is prone to do, she gave up the ghost before they had even started and revealed the artificiality of the situation through her genuineness.

Once her cousins had said all their lines they exited off the stage just leaving her with Pop-Pop and Lily. Her aunt and uncle had gone off taking care of various things around the house while the whole charade was going on, most likely so they wouldn't have to talk to her anymore. She watched TV for a moment, mostly flipping channels mindless. It was then a loud rumbling sound came from Pop-Pop.

"Seems I might of overdid it trying to eat more spicy meatball subs than your sister. Mind watching Lily for a moment." He said as he got up from the sofa chair.

" Sure," She said and he promptly placed a sleeping Lily into her lap before rushing off upstairs.

Lucy looked down at Lily as she peacefully slept. Lily looking so innocent and pure. 'You would never lie to me, would you?' she thinks. Thanks to Lori, by the time Lily is old enough to speak she would never remember a time where Lucy was her sister. Lucy would only be the orphaned cousin that lives with her family,

She held Lily close, feeling the warmth from her tiny body. Lucy thinks about her own mother, her real one, and how she never got to be held by her. How she would never get to know her. How she would never experience what it was like to have a real family instead of one that lies to her and acts like they love her.

She didn't realize she was crying until she heard Pop-Pop make his way down the stairs. She quickly brushed the tears aside, making sure not to disturb Lily in the process. She carefully handed Lily back to him and excused herself. She made her way to one of her hiding spaces, curling up into the fetal position as she let the tears flow again. She stayed there till she was called for dinner. No one looked for her, no one cared to.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 Let's Play KEEP AWAY**

Dinner was a blur to her. She sat at the kids' table as she had so many times before but it was like she wasn't there at all. Her cousins talked among themselves as they ate. They would try to pull her into the conversation but she only responded to their questions with one word answers. They stopped after a few tries. She finished her meal and carried her plate, silverware, and glass to the sink before returning to her room. She sat in her coffin and started reading a new Gothic romance book.

Before long she could hear the TV downstairs turn on and her cousins fighting over seating. She felt the pull to join them but didn't heed it. She didn't belong down there with them. She didn't belong in this family and being near them only drove that stake deeper into her heart. She felt torn between her old naive self and her new aware self, wanting the warmth that came from being around her family but afraid of the pain that includes. So she just sat in her coffin, alone, and reading the same page over and over again. Her focus was with them so strongly that the pages in front of her could have been blank for all she was getting from them.

When Lynn Jr. entered the room Lucy had to look at their alarm clock to realize how long she had been in that state. She put her book down, expecting Lynn was wanting to talk or something like that. Of her entire family Lynn was always the one that she was the closest to as they shared a bedroom for as long as she could remember. Even with the revelation that they were just cousins the whole time the bond she felt towards Lynn was still there.

"Oh, here you are Lucy," Said Lynn sounding a little awkward.

"Yes, I have been here reading," Lucy lifted up the book for Lynn to see for emphasis.

"That is... good. Well, I am going to be bunking with Lincoln again so you get the place to yourself." Lynn quickly started grabbing her pillow and sleepwear.

"Why are you doing that?" Lucy wasn't expecting this. Of all of them, she thought Lynn would have been the one to not care about her being adopted but she was clearly wrong. Lynn wanted nothing to do with her and was trying her best to get away from her as fast as possible.

"Well.. you know... it is just cause of things... you know... right, Lucy?" Lynn didn't wait for Lucy to respond, closing the door to their room behind her as that last word left her lips. Once again Lucy was left in the room by herself, feeling more alone than she had ever felt.

She wished she was capable of following after Lynn, hounding her till she got an answer as to why she was leaving her alone? Why Lynn was abandoning her when she needed her most of all? The problem was that Lucy was never that kind of person to do so, Lynn was. Lynn was who she leaned on to do that for her when she couldn't, just as Lynn leaned on her to be able to say something eloquent instead of Lynn's usual blunt speech. Now it seems that Lynn will start to rely on Lincoln for that, she had been replaced. She turned the lights off in her room and tried to get to sleep but just tossed and turned for hours before finally falling asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 Take A Piece**

She was running at full speed, her muscles screaming out in pain for her to stop but she can't. The hallway before her seems to wind on forever. She couldn't see the end of it or even the walls she knew were to either side of her as an encroaching darkness bathed everything around her. She can only make out a few steps ahead of her. Her heart was pounding hard and fast in her chest and her lungs felt like they had been filled with acid but even the thought of slowing down was out of the question.

Keeping pace with her her was Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, and Lincoln. She didn't remember how long they had been running, what happened to the others, or what they were running from but none of that matters. All she knows is that they are all dead if they stop.

Lincoln was panting more than the rest of them. Whenever he felt they were starting to slow down he would get behind him and push them along or, in the case for Lucy, he would carry her. He was making sure they didn't fall behind. Going through all that effort was now making it so he was struggling to keep up with them.

"Lincoln, you have to keep going. Stop focusing on us and just focus on..." Before Lucy could finish that sentence he let out a scream and out of the corner of her eye she sees a blur of white hair being propelled back. She doesn't look back, she can't. Anything that might slow her down, to delay her for a moment could result in suffering the same fate as Lincoln. She wishes she could do something but all she could do is run.

"You know Lucy this is kind of ridiculous. In a few years we will be moving out and not have to deal with any of this. I mean, I already have a job. If I wanted a workout I could just go full time at the _rat race_. Get it? What is really the point at keeping this up?" Said Luan as she shrugs apathetically.

"What? No! Don't stop running! We have to keep moving!" Lucy screamed, she couldn't understand what was going on. Didn't Luan just see what happened to Lincoln? Didn't she know that they had to keep running no matter what?

"Luan has got a point, sis. I've got less time on my prison sentence than her. Once I bust out of this jailhouse rock and start doing my music completely, what is really here for me to come back to?" Said Luna nonchalantly.

"You don't understand! You have to keep running, we all do! If we don't... If we don't..." Lucy didn't know how to end the sentence as she didn't know what would happen.

"It has been fun Lucy but I got to jet," Said Luna as she came to a complete stop.

"Yeah, I got to go too Lucy. Bye!" Said Luan as she also came to a complete stop.

Lucy wanted to stop, to shake some sense into them but she couldn't. The last she saw of them was as she ran past them was their faces in her peripheral vision. She expected to see the fear that was crushing her reflected in their faces but all she found was looks of general indifference. As if they never really cared to begin with. That they were only running out of habit and not because they actually felt compelled to. Hot tears ran began to run down Lucy's face.

"Umm... I forgot. What are we running from?" Said Leni.

"I don't know! All I know is that we have to keep running!" Called out Lucy.

"Oh hi! I don't think we have met. I'm Leni! What is your name?"

"What do you mean? I'm Lucy! You know me! I'm your... your..." Lucy looked up to Leni's confused face as Leni looked down at her.

"Did we meet at the mall? Or did I meet you at school? I'm sorry, if we met before I don't remember it," Said Leni, looking sadly down at Lucy as they run. Lucy couldn't grasp what was happening. Leni was forgetful but she would never forget her, would she?

"I'm Lucy! Please Leni remember me! Please!" Lucy cried.

"Okay, let me stop and try to remember." In one moment Leni was next to Lucy and in the next she was just a passing blur. Lucy knew she was gone but held out hope to hear that Leni remembered her before it was over but she heard nothing.

It was just her and Lynn now. She didn't know how much more she could run, she had passed her limit awhile ago and it was only fear that was forcing her to continue. It was then that she was able to see something in the distance.

"Lucy! There is a door! We can escape!" Yelled Lynn excitedly. Lucy's heart soared at this news. She could see the door as it came in focus the closer they got. Lucy dug deep into herself to use what little energy she had left to pick up the pace. She needed to get to that door. Her whole body was focused on this one goal. In just a few moments she would be there and Lynn and her could escape. That was then she felt a hard kick to her legs that sent her tumbling to the ground. The carpet feeling like sandpaper as she skidded against it.

She tried to get up as fast as she could but was held down by a foot on her back. She looked up to see that it was Lynn's foot keeping her down. Lynn's face looked almost demonic with a sadistic smile going from ear to ear.

"Did you really think that I would escape with you? You are a pathetic nerd! Why would I ever associate with you? You weirdo!" The hatred in Lynn's voice as she said this cut deep into Lucy. More than the exhaustion, more than her fall, this hurt her the most. As much as Lucy wanted to defend herself, to stand up for herself, she couldn't. As painful as these words were she couldn't deny how true they sounded.

It was then that she heard the footsteps of what they were running from. She looked into the darkness behind them, her heart beating fast in her chest as her eyes searched the inky darkness for what might be coming. Out of the veil of darkness came a blood covered leg. It was then that Lucy recognized who they were running from the whole time. It was Lori. Followed shortly behind Lori was the rest of her family. Lynn removed her foot from Lucy's back and walked over to join them. It was then that Lori started to speak.

"These are not yours! They are mine! You don't belong here, you never did! You are an aberration! A blemish on this family! So go ahead and leave!" Lori gestured towards the door just a few feet away. "Just don't think that any of us are will to go with you. You are nothing to us!"

Lucy staggered to her feet and walked to the door. She put her hand on the handle but didn't turn it. She moved to face her cousins.

"What if I don't want to go? What if I want to stay?" As painful as this existence was, this was the only one she had ever known. As hard as she had been running, she never really wanted to leave or at least she didn't want to leave without at least taking some of her old life with her.

"Don't you realize that you were literally never here to begin with? You were just a squatter. Taking up space and inconveniencing all of us. You were never one of us and you never will be," Said Lori smugly. She started to walk towards Lucy. With every step that Lori took, the more her figure loomed over Lucy.

"I don't care! I don't care if you all hate me! I just want to stay here with you! I know I don't belong but I want to keep acting like I do!" Lucy tried to stand her ground against the towering form of Lori but she couldn't help but to being to tremble.

Lori reached past her and opened the door behind her. Lucy could feel the immense cold of whatever was on the other side of the door against her back.

"We don't want you." Lori then pushed Lucy so hard that she went flying backwards through the door. She descended into the infinite void, the cold encompassing her and penetrating her deep into her bones. Her body started to shut down in response to her being frozen alive, her heart slowing down in her chest. The door shrinking in her vision as she fell. She reached up futilely towards it only to see it close with a violent slam. She felt as her heart gave out one final beat before freezing solid.

She awoke with a start and for a moment, in the darkness of her coffin, she felt that she was still in the dream. She kicked the coffin lid open and sat up in the barren room. Her heart pounded in her chest as she started to calm down. She looked around in the gloom and found the alarm clock. It was only 2:23 a.m. She needed to get back to sleep but didn't think she could, at least not in her coffin. She looked over at Lynn's empty bed. She reset the alarm to a half a hour earlier and carried Edwin over to Lynn's bed. After kicking off a dozen some balls from the bed she was able to fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 Fighting for a False Reality**

The alarm clock rang out, cutting into her thankfully dreamless sleep. She sat up and turned off the alarm only to see that she must of hit the snooze a couple times. It was only a few minutes before her cousins and most concernedly Lynn would be waking up. She jumped out of the bed and placed Edwin in her coffin. She frantically tried to set up Lynn's bed how it was before she slept in it but had to chased the various balls that kept falling off the mattress.

She heard the alarms of her cousins go off right as she was putting the final touches on Lynn's bed. She jumped into her coffin and tried to act casual. Moments later Lynn walked in and grabbed her clothes for the day. Lucy felt a bit foolish as Lynn was in and out so quickly that she probably wouldn't of noticed if her bed wasn't exactly how she left it.

Lucy went to go brush her teeth but stopped before leaving her room. She felt a heavy weight in pit of her stomach. She had a overwhelming sense of deja vu and it took her a moment to pinpoint why. This was how that nightmare she had in the hospital started. An uneasy dread seeped into her as she tried to push the thought of it out of her mind. She tentatively opened the door and crept out into the hallway.

She had walked only a few steps before the lights went out around her, bathing everything in darkness. She could barely see anything in front of her. Her heart started to pound in her chest as visions from her nightmares took hold in her mind. She heard something move quickly past her in the darkness. She was paralyzed with fear, unable to move another step. There was more movement from the darkness and there appeared Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, and Lincoln. Just like her dream.

"I think I have gone blind!" Said Leni as she was feeling the wall to guide her.

"No worries, the lights just cut out," Said Luna.

"Yes, no need to stress and _blow a fuse_. Get it?" Said Luan as she elbowed Lynn but Lynn didn't respond. Lynn just looked over at Lucy and then at the floor.

"Umm... Lucy, do you need to go brush your teeth? I think the bathroom is clear and while it might not be easy to brush in the dark, it is not impossible." It was clear that Lincoln was the only one who noticed the look of worry on Lucy's face. He glanced at his sisters hoping they noticed too but they were distracted with other things.

"Yes..." That was all Lucy could say though she couldn't get herself to move forward toward the bathroom. Deep down inside her she knew that if she took one step she couldn't stop herself from running and never stopping.

"It is a bit difficult to find the way in the dark, let me help you." He grabbed her hand and tried to lead her down the hallway but her feet were firmly planted to the ground. He looked confused for a moment before picking her up and started carrying her like he did in the dream. In just a few moments they were at the bathroom door which he placed her down before opening. She instinctively covered her eyes and braced herself for the cold but to her surprise there was none. He picked her up and carried her to the sink and got her toothbrush and toothpaste.

"Here you go. The lights will be on in a moment, I'm sure of it." He started to leave but before he did he turned around and said. "If you need any more help, don't be afraid to ask okay?" He closed the door behind him and Lucy tentatively began brushing her teeth in the dark. She started to calm down and was feeling stupid for thinking her dreams could come real.

She lifted herself up and spit into the sink. It was at that moment the lights came back on. She couldn't help but look up in the mirror and she saw the undulating dark shape from her dream. Her arms gave out from under her and she fell and hit the tile floor hard. The pain shot through her body. Her vision went burning white for a moment blinding her before her eyesight returned.

She scrambled to her feet and looked into the mirror only to see herself reflected back with a growing bruise on her cheek. She frantically looked around the bathroom. She knew she had seen it and the only explanation for why it wasn't in the mirror anymore was because it already made its way through.

There was a loud knocking on the door. "What is going on in there?" Even before she spoke Lucy knew how it was at the door, it was Lori. It was just like her dream. Lori was at the door and the monster was here. That cruel mockery of her was just waiting to strike and to take her place, she was certain of it. She continued to looked everywhere for it and ignored Lori entirely.

"What? She is in there by herself? Why would you let that happen?" She heard Lori say through the door to someone she couldn't make out. There was more loud knocking, more frantic this time. "Lucy! Lucy, are you in there? I'm coming in!" Lucy wanted to run to the door to bar it closed but she didn't want to turn her back to the room for fear that she would feel the freezing black ichor grasp on her leg. The door swung open, slamming against the wall. Lori stood there with her siblings behind them. Lucy saw another flash of her dream again. Lori emerging from the darkness with the people who she ripped away from Lucy just to taunt her. Lucy felt the rage boil inside her.

"Lucy? What happened?" Lori ran to Lucy and started to inspect her bruise. Lucy immediately pushed her away. Shock and surprise overtook the look of worry on Lori's face. "Lucy?"

"What do you care? You don't! I'm not your sister and you know that! I was never your sister!" Lucy didn't say this instead the words more exploded out of her.

"What? I... I..." Lori looked on confused.

"While I was at the hospital you made sure they knew it too! Had to tell them all that I was adopted! That I was fake! That I was a lie!" Lucy's throat started to burn from the yelling but it didn't stop her. "You hate that I live here when I don't belong here! I am just a weirdo, right?"

"You're adopted?" Said Lincoln from the doorway.

Lucy froze, she had so much more to say but that took the wind right out of her. She looked over Lori's shoulder to see her cousins looking on dumbfounded and confused. 'They had to be faking right? But they look so genuinely surprised. If they weren't faking it right now then she just...' Lucy's brain raced to try rectify this two contradictory thoughts.

"I... never told them. I would never of told them cause it doesn't matter that you are adopted, you are my sister. You were always my sister since the day you were born." Tears were streaming down Lori's face. "I'm sorry, I am so sorry. I have been a terrible sister to you. I never wanted you to get hurt. I was in a bad mood that day and I took it out on you. I didn't know about your heart... I didn't know!"

"But... but everyone was avoiding me and Lynn refused to talk to me or to sleep in our room." Lucy looked to Lori and to her cousins. Of her cousins, only Lincoln was able to make eye contact with her.

"We thought you wanted to be left alone. You usually don't like to socialize and we felt that after being in the hospital that you didn't want us bother you. We thought that if you wanted to be around us that you would seek us out. We believed we were doing what you wanted." Lincoln spoke in a pained tone, tears welling up in his eyes.

It was then that Lynn placed her hand on his shoulder comforting him before she walked forward. She stared at the floor, unable to look at Lucy. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I never intended to make you feel worse than you already did. I just needed to keep my distance. I... I am so worried that I might hurt you. You had to be ran to the hospital after an argument... I mean, think how much damage could I do with my practice and training? Mom and Dad said you have a weak heart and you know me, I am all about getting my heart pumping. I was so scared when the ambulance came for you. I thought I would never see you again. I just wanted to make sure that I never had to experience that again." Lynn's tears started to fall on the tile floor.

"So.. so none of you knew?" It was dawning on her that all the pain and betrayal that she felt since coming home was all in her head. The family she felt had been ripped away from her was always there. The thing she feared the most, being revealed as a fraud, wasn't done by Lori but by her. She felt her tears flow down her cheeks before she realized that she was crying. Lori wasn't the monster that took her family away, it was her. "I have... I have no one now."

As she felt those words leave her lips the weight of them felt like they would crush her. She began to bawl so hard she couldn't keep her eyes open. The pain of what she had just done dug deep into her, down to the bone. She felt a cold numb emptiness grow inside her, an emptiness that she knew would consume her wholly. She gave into the pain, the hurt, the cold and then she felt a warmth against her. Faint at first but growing stronger. She opened her eyes to see Lori holding her tight.

"Don't say that. You have us... you will always have us." Lori could barely speak as she fought to get the words out between fitful sobs. Her siblings then descended on her, their arms embracing her. The warmth from them scaring away the emptiness and pain inside of her. For the first time since coming home from the hospital she felt like she was home.

 **The End**


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